1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device.
2. Description of Related Art
Light-emitting devices including light-emitting elements are often used for light sources for headlights of vehicles and backlights for liquid-crystal displays, etc. As one example of such light emitting devices, a light-emitting device includes a substrate, an LED element mounted on an upper surface of the substrate, a phosphor plate that is disposed on an upper surface of the LED element and having an area smaller than an area of the LED element in a top view, and a white resin covering lateral surfaces of the LED element and lateral surfaces of the phosphor plate (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-110199). The light-emitting device having such a structure is configured to emit, to the outside, light in which light emitted from the light-emitting element and a part of the light emitted from the light-emitting element wavelength-converted by a phosphor are mixed.
In the above-mentioned light-emitting device, in a top view, the phosphor plate has an area smaller than the upper surface of the light-emitting element, so that light is irradiated upward in a smaller region.
In the light-emitting device proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-110199, in order to allow light emitted from a portion of the light-emitting surface of the light-emitting element exposed from the phosphor plate to be incident on the phosphor plate, the phosphor plate is bonded to the light emitting element using a light-transmissive bonding member, and the bonding member has inclined surfaces at the lateral surfaces of the phosphor plate.
However, with the phosphor plate having an area smaller than an area of the upper surface of the light-emitting element in a top view, if the bonding member bonding the light-emitting element to the phosphor plate covers the entire outer lateral surfaces of the phosphor plate, light emitted from the light-emitting element and travels through the bonding member may leak out from the light-emitting device without entering the phosphor plate. If the light leaked through the bonding member covering the outer lateral surfaces of the phosphor plate is noticeable against the mixed light emitted from the upper surface of the phosphor plate, the resulting emission color may be uneven.
Certain embodiments of the present invention has an object to provide a high-luminance light-emitting device in which unevenness in emission color is reduce.